be quiet! Silent Wings 3 120 mm High-Speed fan

Performance Testing

Testing methodology

Testing was done with the fan mounted one at a time on a single Swiftech MCR120QP radiator, with the fans controlled using a dedicated fan controller (Aquacomputer Aquaero 6 XT) in PWM or power (DC voltage) mode depending on the fan used. The controller also enabled RPM readout. Linear airflow was measured using an Extech 45158 Thermo-Anemometer 6″ away from the fan such that it measured the airflow in feet per minute through the radiator. Fan noise was measured in an anechoic chamber of size 5′ x 8′ with ambient noise level ~19 dBA and a sound probe held 6″ away to measure the sound volume in dBA accordingly. The fans were individually tested and the results below are averaged with a standard deviation calculated.

Results

First up, I wanted to map out the RPM response curves to see if there was a significant difference between the fans controlled via PWM vs DC voltage control before measuring noise and airflow through the radiator.

Unfortunately, this PWM control issue wherein there is a massive drop in fan RPM going from 100% PWM duty cycle to even 99% PWM duty cycle on the Aquaero 6 is not new and it has been covered in more detailhere. The situation is still unclear at this point, but what is clear is this: some PWM controllers and the be quiet! Silent Wings 3 PWM fans do not get along very well. This can be remedied if you are handy with electronics and electrical engineering, or simply know someone who does. Thanks a lot to Overclock.net community member Darlene and her “Diva Adapter” I was able to test these fans again with an external pull-up logic in place:

That looks so much better. I am not an electrical engineer by trade nor will I pretend to understand exactly what is going on, it is for be quiet! to do so. But at this point, I will still suggest sticking with the voltage control versions unless you are aware of these potential, and I have to stress potential here as your motherboard PWM control setup may work just fine, control issues and want to go ahead.

Voltage control was more as I expected. Max RPM was 2126 at 12 V and both fans went down to 558 RPM at 4.2 V before shutting down. In fact, the fans shut down at 4.1 V and turned back on at 4.2 V so the claim of these fans having a low re-starting voltage is true. The RPM response is also very linear and only drops down at the last data point. There was also next to no sample to sample variability here (< 1%) which was nice to see. As such, I chose the DC version for noise and airflow measurements as well as fan comparison.

With the individual fan measurements done, let’s see how it compared with other 120 mm fans rated in the 1801-2200 RPM range. In order to not clutter up the plots, I am using only one fan from a series. For example, instead of there being 3 different EK Vardar 120 mm fans here (F3-120, F4-120, F4-120ER), I am having only one as these are generally identically performing at the same fan speed.

The be quiet! Silent Wings 3 remains noise optimized and is the quietest fan in the middle regime of the fan RPM range here. Performance is average at best here, but enough to where these come out the best at lower-middle fan speeds. Very impressive! Based on what we see, perhaps the non High-Speed versions make more sense after all for most people where they perform relatively best. These will come into play for that added boost in performance and those with fan controllers will be happy with these given the freedom to be where they wish to in the regime of operation.

(Edit: October 23, 2016) Upon request, here is a direct comparison between the be quiet! Silent Wings 3 120 mm High-Speed fan and the Corsair ML120 Pro 120 mm fan:

The story is more or less the same here, with the be quiet! fan getting better at fan speeds < 1600 RPM or so although both are within error margins. The Corsair ML120 Pro is better at higher fan speeds.

It’s not just the bearing upgrade, the entire motor is new. The stator vanes are different too, and the mounting is improved along with a more squarish frame allowing for an increase in performance as well over the SW2. Lots of small changes that have contributed to this. The biggest, perhaps, is the increased retail chain and the decrease in street pricing that finally makes this worth while.

The Corsair ML120 Pro is in a different speed range so I did not have it in here. Give me a few hours, I will go ahead and add in a comparison graph between these two.

At the current price point in the USA, the Corsair ML fans need a price cut and I think they are aware of it. I would recommend the SW3 until then. Sure, go with the high-speed version and use voltage control- just make sure the power output from the header is fine.

Thanks for the fast reply!
Yeah, I also think that the SW3 will be better choice; considering that my 3x140mm Pure Wings 2 do a fantastic job atm.

I think that I will need to go with the non-High-Speed models; I plan to use a Aquastream XT Ultimate with a 1A fan-header, with 1,5A burst. The 0,37A of the High-Speed version are a little bit too there.

About the price: I think the only reason they cut the price in Germany, is do to people rather buying Be Quiet, Noiseblocker and Noctua fans instead of Corsairs.

Just curious if there has been any updates regarding the pwm issues? I’m looking to buy some new ones for a build and will be using the Aquaero 6 LT to control. I’m hoping to run at low rpm so PWM is preferred. Should I just stick to the voltage controlled ones?

Sorry to revive an older thread but I am seriously stuck deciding between the corsair ML 120 or the Silent Wings 3. I am going to be running 6 of them on EK PE 360mm radiator at speeds lowest possible (PWM controlled) This is a $6000 build so far so cost is a non issue and not an influencing factor for me. However I will say that 6x ML is $126 here and 6x silent wings are $180. Sorry for the questions just wondering now that some time has passed if there is a conclusive winner.

For some reason your comment was flagged as spam, so apologies for the late response as I only just saw it in the spam box. For that price differential, go with the ML fans. In fact, since it’s past NDA, I would say the ML RGB fans are performing every so slightly better too. Looks like Corsair tweaked the rotor design so the lighting has not affected performance negatively.

A small question: Would you recommend the SW3 for a pull-configuration?
Would their performance be much worse compared to push, because of the open frame?
The Radiator in front of the fan has low fin density but there ist also a dustfilter to overcome.

I know this is rather old but I would really like to know if there is a big difference in the slower version. The 1450rpm ones are like 6$ less per piece, how does that hit performance considering you wouldnt run them over 1000rpm anyways?